


Skulduggery Pleasant: Xena

by GeckoLady



Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Complete, Gen, puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29051118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoLady/pseuds/GeckoLady
Summary: Valkyrie picks up her new puppy from the breeder and takes her home.(Complete)
Kudos: 5





	Skulduggery Pleasant: Xena

Valkyrie sighed, taking her dark sunglasses off and placing them in the cupholder. Her seat belt slowly retracted, the second-hand, halfway-to-a-landfill trunk showing its age. It was probably older than her but it ran well enough. She’d get a new one soon, but her first point had been to find her little cabin, and now it was _this_. Then the new truck.

She jumped out the tall truck and slammed the door shut, using the key to lock the old thing. It was an incredibly expensive area. Everyone had a few expensive cars, shiny and new, and their houses were large and fancy. She, by comparison, looked like some shabby young woman with an arm tattoo with an old, loud truck, in a dark blue short sleeve top and black ripped jeans. They hadn’t been ripped when she bought them. But after breaking them accidently a few times, they’d accidently ended up artfully ripped and she’d kept them.

She knocked on the large front door and a few moments later, a woman opened it. She had caramel brown hair, a white blouse and blue jeans, paired with some fluffy pink slippers.

“Stephanie, it’s lovely to see you! Are you excited?” Helen said with a big, toothy grin. She had a small chip in her right front tooth.

“Of course,” she made herself say, forcing a smile. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been well thank you, three of the babies have gone home over the last few days which is exciting and sad at the same time. Princess has taken it really well,” Helen chattered, beckoning her in and going for a hug.

Valkyrie returned it with one arm. “I’m glad.”

“Come through to the kitchen and you can see her, your pups so big now!” Helen said excitedly, locking the front door. Valkyrie let her walk ahead to be polite and they went through to the back of the house. “Would you like something to drink? I have some lemonade or a Coke?”

“Thank you, but I’m alright,” Valkyrie said, holding her hand out for Princess and her sister Sammy to sniff her. Princess began licking her hand, and she left them to step completely over the gate and into the puppy area. “Does she still have the mint collar?”

“Yep!” Helen said, pushing the two adult dogs back and getting into the puppy area through the gate.

All the puppies crowded around her feet, five months old and incredibly rambunctious. Most of them jumped up at her and she finally grinned and crouched for the six puppies to lick her face and jump all over her. She laughed and pulled her face back to try and find her puppy, looking around the mess of ears and tongues.

She finally caught sight of her, sniffing around her feet at all the fun scents that clung to her. Wrapping her hands around her, Valkyrie picked the German Shepard puppy up and held her, the dog instantly licking at her face and wagging her tail madly. “It’s so good to see you again little miss! You have grown so much.”

“She’s been getting really smart too,” Helen said, getting the attention of the other puppies off of her by kneeling down also. “She’s already been doing sit and shake for my daughter just fine.”

“She’ll be writing books in now time,” Valkyrie joked, standing up with her. “Say goodbye to your brothers and sisters, honey.”

“Is that going to be her name?” Helen asked.

“Oh no, I don’t think so. I want something stronger than Honey,” she said, stepping over the gate. Princess and Sammy were there to sniff at the puppies long legs. “Say bye-bye to Mummy and Aunty Sammy.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a drink?” Helen asked.

“Thanks, but I’d like to get going before the school traffic,” Valkyrie said honestly, hiking the puppy higher. She wiggled a little but then settled and looked around. “I’ll send you some pictures when she’s settled in.”

“Please do,” Helen smiled. “Are you straight off then?”

“I think so. Thank you again Helen,” she said with a small smile, stroking the puppy’s ear. “Have a nice day.”

Helen gave the puppy a stroke goodbye and the adult dogs didn’t care less that Valkyrie was leaving with the baby. Helen watched her take the puppy to the car and get in the front seat, and Valkyrie put the puppy into the passenger seat and put the dog car seat harness on her. It took a moment to wrangle, but when she was done, the five-month old puppy sat and looked at her. She smiled and stroked under her chin before pulling on her seatbelt, giving Helen a final hand raise, and starting the old truck up.

It was only a five minute drive to the highway, and then she sped down to the town over from hers and went to the small pet shop. The puppy had laid down and was quiet and well behaved.

“You okay?” Valkyrie asked, and the puppy’s ears twitched. She pulled the handbrake up and took off her seatbelt before unhooking the clasp on the harness. The puppy jumped up pretty quickly and sniffed around the handbrake before just jumping over it and only Valkyrie to attack her with kisses. Valkyrie grinned and hugged her, letting her lick her all she wanted to. She clipped the lead to her collar and got out of the car and put the lanky thing down to walk.

She peed on the grass verge and Valkyrie praised her a hundred times and patted her before they went into the shop, the puppy bouncing around and pulling in all directions. Valkyrie guided her to the toy section and the puppy went jumping all over the aisle with no interest in the toys at all.

“Here baby, look, toys!” Valkyrie encouraged, crouching. The puppy bounded back over to her and jumped on her knees. “Do you want anything?”

The puppy sniffed what Valkyrie offered her before licking Valkyrie’s face once and jumping down to sniff at the floor.

No matter what she did, the puppy had no interest in any of the toys. They ran into another dog, an Australian Shepard that sniffed at the puppy but didn’t much like how jumpy she was, and another puppy a bit younger than her own. She and the owner of that puppy chatted while they watched the babies, and then Valkyrie picked out a few toys herself and took them through the checkout. She settled back into the car just fine and by the time they’d driven back the twenty minutes it took, the puppy was fast asleep.

Unsure of what to do with a sleeping dog, Valkyrie sat and looked at her for a few seconds before shutting off the engine and carefully took off the harness. The puppy didn’t move at all, breathing softly in dream land as Valkyrie cradled her and brought her into the ranch cabin.

She didn’t have much furniture in there, but it was enough to make Helen think it was a good place for her puppy to grow up. Two bookshelves of books she’d read, a loveseat sofa and armchair, a coffee table and an old television Valkyrie had never plugged into the wall. She placed the puppy on the sofa and she didn’t wake up.

“I didn’t think you’d sleep,” Valkyrie said to her. The puppy didn’t respond. “I thought puppies were always awake and doing stuff.”

Biting her lip for a moment, Valkyrie went to the bathroom and came back expecting the puppy to be chewing the sofa, but she was still asleep. Sighing, Valkyrie grabbed the novel she’d been reading through recently and sat next to the puppy.

An hour later, the puppy sneezed and Valkyrie jumped at the same time as the puppy. “Oh! You scared me,” Valkyrie said.

The puppy yawned and Valkyrie cooed at her and gave her a scratch behind the ear. The puppy blinked at her a few times before standing and slowly stepping onto her lap. Valkyrie put her book onto the armrest and held her, getting a good hug and a lick back. Smiling Valkyrie put her on the ground and ran to the other side of the room, hearing as the puppy ran after her. Valkyrie grabbed the bag and pulled out a few toys, ripped the tags off and sat on the floor. She threw the tennis ball and the puppy went bounding after it with a short bark.

They played together on the floor, Valkyrie getting on her hands and knees and kissing her new dog all over. They had great fun together until it hit her puppy’s meal time and Valkyrie decided it would be fun to have dinner together as a little ‘family’ and prepared herself a small dinner from the freezer, an Indian ready meal she’d had sitting around for a while. When it was warmed up in the oven and exactly six, Valkyrie set the bowl of dog kibble on the floor and the puppy went back for it, wolfing the food down. Laughing slightly, Valkyrie sat on the sofa with her ready meal and watched the puppy eat. Remembering her promise, she took a photo and sent it to Helen of the puppy eating before getting back to her food.

Far before Valkyrie was done, the puppy finished licked her lips, looked around, and began wandering around the room sniffing everything. Valkyrie would take her out to go to the toilet when she was done eating.

The puppy came jumping back into view with the bear Valkyrie had gotten her and Valkyrie smiled into her dinner. It was probably the first time she’d eaten as a dinner appropriate time in the last year and a half.

“I’m glad I got you,” she said, looking into her food and putting it on the coffee table, suddenly unable to continue eating. “I’m going to be the bestest owner I possibly can be, okay? I’m going to take good care of you.” The puppy barked and jumped up on her legs when she stood. “You hear me? You’re such a good girl. I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is so cute! I'm glad I wrote this :) feel free to leave a comment or future idea for me to write if you have one  
> 


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